Will baking soda kill chickens?

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Wow...9 1/2 week old chicks indoors? I imagine that IS ripe!

Another option is biochar, which is just charcoal. You could but a bag of lump (not briquette) charcoal, and crush some fairly fine and mix with the bedding. I’ve found it’s great at absorbing odors (although it is black so a bit dirty).

My favorite crushing method is a plastic bucket and a scrap of lumber (think mortar and pestle).

The good news is that if the chicks did consume any biochar, it’s at worst neutral and likely beneficial to their digestive tracks.

 

[RipandSlim]

You might want to look into getting some DE to sprinkle around in the shavings. I use it and it works great.

what is DE?

 

[TOR]

what is DE?

diatomaceous earth

 

[Robert oc]

DE is on prop 65 list of cancer causing substances

 

[rembrandt]

I'm certainly not an expert, but based on the little I do "know" (i.e. have read), I'd be very cautious about feeding birds of any sort something that will produce gas. Birds do not have the ability to pass gas. Someone mentioned cattle, but they are ruminants. They belch and yes, even fart! Birds however, (in my experience) do not do either.

I agree with the person who mentioned "wet manure" as an odor producer. DE is your friend in many respects. It helps with drying, its is a natural de-wormer, and in your feed will help prevent bugs from eating it. I use it in my coop bedding, nesting boxes, feed, and in their dust bathing areas. You should be able to find it at a relatively cheap price at a feed store...where they produce feed, not the store fronts.

Vinegar is the BEST odor eliminator I've found. It neutralizes the ammonia (at least I believe that's what I read). I use it to clean up my carpets (esp after a urine or fecal accident), wipe down my counters, even in my rinse cycle for laundry (great fabric softener too!). However, its wet, therefore you cannot use it in your bedding...just for cleaning the area. Its also a natural way to kill germs as it is out of Ph balance with most things.

Someone mentioned worries about chickens exploding w ingestion of baking soda. Baking soda is an effective rodent deterrent for that very reason - if they eat enough.) As mentioned above, rodents (like chickens) are unable to belch or pass gas, so the BSoda causes rodents to have internal eruptions, (same w insects.) Though personally I don't want to kill any living creature, and have tried repeater live-trapping rats, but they multiply very fast! And when they are infesting my coop areas, jeopardizing my girls health & safety, they've got to go! There are several recipes online mixing BS w corn meal or jiffy mix w a little sugar. The best I've found so far is mixing BS 1/2 & 1/2 w peanut butter, and I roll it into little balls. Most recently I saw popcorn broken down smaller, then sprinkled w shave soap (or even liquid detergent) then add baking soda.